the artist Manuel Panares

Born on December 9, 1946, PANARES started painting at three years old. At 65, he has
accumulated a volume of work depicting the nuances of color, craft and style in his figurative
paintings. He projects character, charisma, and soul within the context of history and culture. As
an artist- witness, he paints the evolving profiles of his city Sugbo (Cebu) in Central Visayas,
and at the same time, records vignettes of tribal women of Mindanao, Southern Philippines.

PANARES passion for ethnology and history has led him to paint works as interpretation of
museum artifacts, historical documents, giving life to significant men, women and events in
history.
MEDIUM His primary medium is PASTEL and ACRYLIC.
His preferred subjects are the indigenous tribes of Mindanao and Sugbu a historical series, now
online since 1996
While in Mindanao he was able to see and feel first hand the tribes of Mindanao, his paintings
of such are accurate and correct and this is what makes his works unique.
He spends a couple of hours each day at the Southwestern University Museum to study and
research historical events thus making him the pioneer in making works of art which portray
accurately historical events in Philippine History.
His travels in the United States has greatly influenced his works after seeing the works of the
masters in New York and Washington D.C.
PANARES has absorbed their essence and have found a way to produce a unique feeling in his
own works and has had a series of one man shows around the Philippines before making a
cultural mission to the United States showing the world what Philippine Art is.

A Cebuano painter whose beginnings in the arts during the late 60s started with several
exhibitions in Manila and Cebu. He later moved to Mindanao to delve into the study of the tribal
Filipinos. In the 70s to the late 80s his paintings were exhibited in Davao, Manila and Baguio.
His return to the Cebu art scene started in 1980 with consecutive one-man shows up to the
1991 Sinulog Season.

In his hope to focus on the regional artists direction, he joined two painters from Dumaguete,
Negros Oriental, namely Sollesta and Taniguchi. The exhibition of these three painters provided

a leap towards a new consciousness addressing the significance of the artists leadership as
cultural workers in the art development in the Visayas.

In 1993, the global concern of the preservation of mother earth has been approached by the
artists in the depiction of the indigenous tribes' universal search for survival; as countless of
these natives are either displaced or dispossessed.

For PANARES, his vignettes in Pastels are stirring witnesses of the vanishing tribes of Southern
Philippines, as its rain forests, waterfalls, mountains and valleys suffer the onslaught of
urbanism and development.

The New York exhibition afforded PANARES with the opportunity to observed similar tribal
realities and hopes to pursue deeper dimension in his art as an ethno-historian.
Early Influences
I was three years old when I started painting. At eight, I saw an Amorsolo original. Kimsoy Yap,
Jr. introduced me to the craft and style of Martino Abellana.
Much later in my mid-20's I developed a close friendship with national artist, Victorio C. Edades
who became my inspiration and mentor. It was a professional partnership as I became his
collaborative assistant of two significant murals namely Kasaysayan ng Lahi for Interbank
Manila, and the Central Bank mural depicting economic development and agriculture in Davao
(this mural is known to be the longest in Philippine art history). From Edades, I learned not only
the nuances and philosophy of mural painting but also the fact that a painting should be
powerful regardless of its size and that form and pattern is more important than modelling.

Paul Gauguin the artist has inspired me to go into the indigenous. We have the same love for
the primitive tribes and our approach is the same. My fascination for the ethnic tribes started a
long time ago when a hunter told me of a tribe deep in the forest of Mindanao whose women
were fair-skinned and beautiful. Gauguin dreamt of Tahiti while still in Paris only to find that the
Tahiti he dreamt of had long vanished as he came a hundred years too late. But he stayed and
painted Tahiti as he wanted it to be. I too have stayed in Davao to be near my tribes to paint
them as they ought to be; the beautiful fair-skinned tribe.

EXHIBITIONS
1521 - Sugbo Sa Karaang Panahon
His solo exhibitions of historical paintings entitled 1521, When the Santo Nino Arrived in Cebu,

featured a panorama of pre-history of Sugbo Sa Karaang Panahon, and other paintings

depicting tribal Mindanao and the environmental concerns of our country.

The Don Vicente Rama Memorial Historical Art Exhibit

On the occasion of the 74th Cebu City Charter Day,The Cebu City Government, through
the Downtown Revitalization Project, presented the art masterpieces of Manuel Panares
in a roadshow entitled: The Don Vicente Rama Memorial Historical Art Exhibit . The
travelling exhibit visited selected public high schools in Cebu City.
Overseas cultural missions
He travelled on cultural missions to New York and Los Angeles in 1992. He joined a Group
Show of 16 Cebuano painters at the Philippine Center in New York for one month. This was
followed by another group show of US based Filipino American Artists who banded together in
honor of Philippine National Hero on June 19, 1992 at the City Hall Lobby in Los Angeles. In
1996, he brought his paintings to the United States on a cultural roadshow at the Philippine
Center, Philippine Embassy in New York, followed by exhibits in Washington D.C., New Jersey,
Orlando, Florida and Los Angeles.
In 2006, his works were represented in a major 14th Annual Art Festival in Los Angeles, U.S.A.
His mission and vision is geared towards the discovery of the Filipino cultural soul, the pride of
place, sense of identity and love for the Philippines.

Awards
Manuel Panares has been awarded twice in 2001. First, an achievement Award for his
exemplary work as an artist in the field of Painting from Barangay Labangon, Cebu City where
he grew up.
Second, an ALIBATA Award by the Global Foundation for International Education in Cebu
Philippines was awarded to him for his outstanding contribution to the preservation of Philippine
Art and Culture -- most notably for his unique paintings of the indigenous tribes of Mindanao and
his collection of Sugbo Sa Karaang Panahon depicting Magellans Discovery, marking the
beginning of Philippine History as recorded by Antonio Pigafetta in his written Account of
Magellans Voyage while at the same time and making Cebus Discovery part of the global
history of global exploration.
Murals
In Mural Painting National Artist, Victorio Edades became his inspiration and mentor in Davao.
It was a professional partnership as he became Edades one of his collaborative assistants in
his murals in the Kasaysayan ng Lahi for Interbank, Manila; followed by a mural for Central
Bank, Davao where he became his lone assistant depicting the agriculture and economic

development in the late 1970s. This Central Bank mural became the longest mural painting in
Philippine History. According to Panares, from National Artist, Victorio C. Edades, I learned not
only the nuance and the philosophy of mural painting but also the fact that a painting should be
powerful regardless of the size, and that form and pattern is more important than modelling.

copyright Manuel Panares 2013